Reply to Junabet’s Post 56 Your words: “So what do you suggest I should have told my Sunday School kids:”
I would hope it would begin as something like this: Class, we know God’s word is truth. Here are a few examples: Ps. 119:160 – “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
John 17:17 – “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
2 Tim. 2:15 – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” ( the word of truth here is of course, the OT accounts) So class, seeing as how God’s word is truth, if we seem to see a theological difference in the bible, then the problem is one of our own lack of understanding and not one of biblical error. Sure there may be minor translational misunderstandings but God has always protected the integrity of the major doctrinal truths He wanted us to know.
If your class is taught anything less then you are doing them a major spiritual disservice which you and all of us (in one way or another) will be accountable for.
Your words: “Did God create plants first and then human beings (Gen 1:11/Gen 1: 27) or did He create people first and then plants (Gen 2.4-9)?”
I will repeat my answer from my previous post. There is NO “different texts giving different orders of creation” in Gen. 1-2. Only those who lack faith in His word would say something like that. All it really takes to understand this “supposed” difference is faith and common sense. It’s possible I guess, you might be speaking of Gen. 2:4 where God is just confirming that He created the plants BEFORE they were IN the earth. One strike against evolution! Or perhaps it is Gen. 2:19 that is confusing you where God is just reminding us that out of GROUND He formed every beast of the field and fowl of the air. HMM, not primordial ooze, strike 2 for evolution! So of all of His creations before man, He is just bringing them to Adam to name. No puzzle, no conflicting order, you see class, you just need to apply some common sense!
Your words: “Did Noah bring “two of each living creature” on the ark (Gen 7:15), or did he bring “seven pairs[b] of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; 3 along with seven pairs[c] of the flying birds, male and female” (Gen 7:2)?”
Class, some people may try to confuse you by asking silly questions like the one noted above, but what does common sense tell you? There is no difference between the two verses they just simply went into the ark by pairs, a male and female, either as a single pair or as seven pairs, one pair right after the other.
Your words: “Did God tell David to take a census of Israel (2 Samuel 24:1), or was it Satan (I Chronicles 21:2)?”
Class, they may even come at you with odd questions like the one above as if they’re seeking to destroy the validity of the bible. They see apparent conflicts where there are none. When we read and understand God’s word, the answer to this puzzler is really quite simple. In 2 Samuel 24:1 we are told that God provoked DAVID to “go number the people”. How did God do this provoking? He used Satan to tempt David as is told in 1 Chron. 21:1. Why did God do it this way? To give cause for judging Israel. In either case David knew he had sinned by taking the census and repented in 2 Sam. 24:10 and 1 Chron. 21:8. Who are we to know and understand the mind of God?
Your words: “What’s the outcome of that census? Were there 800,000 men trained for war in Israel and 500,000 in Judah (2 Samuel 24:9) or 1,100,000 men trained for war in Israel and 470,000 in Judah? (I Chronicles 21:5) … etc. etc.”
Class, in some cases there are apparent discrepancies but before we give birth to doubt we should use the tools we have to try and see where these differences may come from. If you were to use your computer and enter in 2 Sam. 24:9 and 1 Chron. 21:5 you would see that other people have noticed this apparent discrepancy as well. Just read some of the results of your search and when you find one that you can accept, just accept it and move on. It’s really not that hard.
Your words: “However, if you reject their allegorical interpretations altogether, that leaves me with the question I entered this thread with: how come then, that you believe – well, I suppose you believe - that God created everything out of nothing, which is an Augustinian doctrine based on a highly allegorical reading of Genesis.”
I see nothing allegorical about it, it seems quite literal to me.
I would hope it would begin as something like this: Class, we know God’s word is truth. Here are a few examples: Ps. 119:160 – “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
John 17:17 – “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
2 Tim. 2:15 – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” ( the word of truth here is of course, the OT accounts) So class, seeing as how God’s word is truth, if we seem to see a theological difference in the bible, then the problem is one of our own lack of understanding and not one of biblical error. Sure there may be minor translational misunderstandings but God has always protected the integrity of the major doctrinal truths He wanted us to know.
If your class is taught anything less then you are doing them a major spiritual disservice which you and all of us (in one way or another) will be accountable for.
Your words: “Did God create plants first and then human beings (Gen 1:11/Gen 1: 27) or did He create people first and then plants (Gen 2.4-9)?”
I will repeat my answer from my previous post. There is NO “different texts giving different orders of creation” in Gen. 1-2. Only those who lack faith in His word would say something like that. All it really takes to understand this “supposed” difference is faith and common sense. It’s possible I guess, you might be speaking of Gen. 2:4 where God is just confirming that He created the plants BEFORE they were IN the earth. One strike against evolution! Or perhaps it is Gen. 2:19 that is confusing you where God is just reminding us that out of GROUND He formed every beast of the field and fowl of the air. HMM, not primordial ooze, strike 2 for evolution! So of all of His creations before man, He is just bringing them to Adam to name. No puzzle, no conflicting order, you see class, you just need to apply some common sense!
Your words: “Did Noah bring “two of each living creature” on the ark (Gen 7:15), or did he bring “seven pairs[b] of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; 3 along with seven pairs[c] of the flying birds, male and female” (Gen 7:2)?”
Class, some people may try to confuse you by asking silly questions like the one noted above, but what does common sense tell you? There is no difference between the two verses they just simply went into the ark by pairs, a male and female, either as a single pair or as seven pairs, one pair right after the other.
Your words: “Did God tell David to take a census of Israel (2 Samuel 24:1), or was it Satan (I Chronicles 21:2)?”
Class, they may even come at you with odd questions like the one above as if they’re seeking to destroy the validity of the bible. They see apparent conflicts where there are none. When we read and understand God’s word, the answer to this puzzler is really quite simple. In 2 Samuel 24:1 we are told that God provoked DAVID to “go number the people”. How did God do this provoking? He used Satan to tempt David as is told in 1 Chron. 21:1. Why did God do it this way? To give cause for judging Israel. In either case David knew he had sinned by taking the census and repented in 2 Sam. 24:10 and 1 Chron. 21:8. Who are we to know and understand the mind of God?
Your words: “What’s the outcome of that census? Were there 800,000 men trained for war in Israel and 500,000 in Judah (2 Samuel 24:9) or 1,100,000 men trained for war in Israel and 470,000 in Judah? (I Chronicles 21:5) … etc. etc.”
Class, in some cases there are apparent discrepancies but before we give birth to doubt we should use the tools we have to try and see where these differences may come from. If you were to use your computer and enter in 2 Sam. 24:9 and 1 Chron. 21:5 you would see that other people have noticed this apparent discrepancy as well. Just read some of the results of your search and when you find one that you can accept, just accept it and move on. It’s really not that hard.
Your words: “However, if you reject their allegorical interpretations altogether, that leaves me with the question I entered this thread with: how come then, that you believe – well, I suppose you believe - that God created everything out of nothing, which is an Augustinian doctrine based on a highly allegorical reading of Genesis.”
I see nothing allegorical about it, it seems quite literal to me.
